On This Day in 1997, Tommy Burns’ Celtic beat Rangers 2-0 at Celtic Park thanks to goals from Malky Mackay and Paolo Di Canio. Thanks to LilZe on Twitter, we are able to revisit some of the games On This Day across the club’s illustrious history and today, we revisit a Scottish Cup Quarter Final win over Rangers.
Tommy Burns was in the stands with a touchline ban of an incredible seven months and he watched his side record a convincing, combative win over the Ibrox club.
Central defender Mackay found himself free to score from a corner, sending the support into euphoria. Minutes later, Celtic doubled their lead when Jorge Cadete was brought down by Joachim Bjorklund, and Di Canio scored from the resultant penalty kick.
After the game, Mackay said: “That was the best game of my life.
“I didn’t need any motivation – every game for Celtic is like that for me.
“Scoring so early in front of 50,000 settled us down and there can’t be many better feelings than that.”
It was Celtic’s first win over Rangers in 22 months and would act as a warning sign for what was to come the following season, stopping Walter Smith’s side winning ten-in-a-row. Despite the victory, Celtic were beaten in the semi-final by Falkirk after being forced to a replay by The Bairns. The exit would result in Burns’ tenure as Celtic boss coming to an end.
Burns’ Celtic sides were excellent at times, playing some breathtaking football but the Rangers juggernaut, funded by all sorts of means, would grind results out with Smith a seasoned expert in anti-football. Sadly, both managers (who were great friends) are no longer with us now.